Beanie Sigel waives hearing on drug, gun charges in Delco

FOLCROFT – Hip-hop artist Beanie Sigel was back in Folcroft District Court today, more than five months after his arrest on drug and gun charges.

Shackled and wearing prison blues, Sigel, born Dwight Grant, stood before Magisterial District Judge Edward Christie and waived his preliminary hearing on all charges. The portly but seemingly slimmed down defendant said little during the brief proceeding, but smiled when the judge wished him good luck.

The 38-year-old rap artist was arrested early Aug. 29 after a traffic stop by Pennsylvania State Police on I-95, just south of the Philadelphia International Airport in Tinicum. He was a passenger in a car driven by 40-year-old Gerald Andrews of Philadelphia, who was also arrested.

Troopers Francis Pawlowski and James Sparenga pulled over a tan Ford Fusion on southbound I-95 at 3:14 a.m. after seeing the vehicle swerve in and out of traffic a number of times, according to the affidavit of probable cause. Andrews, 40, the driver, was asked to exit the vehicle. Sigel was asleep in the front seat at the time, the affidavit states.

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A pat-down search of Andrews revealed several prescription pill bottles in his pocket, the affidavit states. He allegedly admitted to having a small amount of marijuana and pulled it out of his back pants pocket and handed it to Sparenga.

Pawlowski asked Sigel to get out of the vehicle so he could explain to him why Andrews was being arrested. Sigel got out and, during a pat down search, a bottle of codeine syrup and approximately $4,500 in cash was discovered in a pocket of his camouflage cargo pants, according to the affidavit. He also allegedly had various pills wrapped in a plastic bag tucked inside of a cigarette pack in his pocket and was placed under arrest.

The car was towed to the state police barracks, where a custodial search of the car was conducted. A fully-loaded .38-caliber Smith and was found inside of the upper center console above the stereo, according to the affidavit. Both Sigel and Andrews are convicted felons and are prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Bail was set at $300,000 cash, which kept the rap artist confined to Delaware County prison even though he was scheduled to begin serving a 24-month sentence in federal prison for tax evasion.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsay McDonald said the rap artist’s case will be “fast-tracked” to allow him to begin serving his federal time.

“We expect to have the matter resolved in Media in the next few weeks,” said defense attorney Fortunato N. Perri Jr.

Sigel is scheduled to be formally arraigned in Media on March 6.

The hearing for Andrews has been transferred to a yet-to-be determined district court. It is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 20.